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Upset 'DmC' Fans Are Entitled Because That's What We Call People Who Complain About Video Games

The verdict is in, folks, and it’s the same as it was last year: calling upset gamers ‘entitled’ is still a lazy substitute for an argument.

I’ll be the first to admit that gamers can often go way over the top when they’re upset about something.

Anyone who has been in this business for any length of time has been attacked by one horde or another of video game fans who are Seriously Angry with you because you A) liked a game that they hate or B) disliked a game that they love or C) prefer a specific console or PC over other consoles or the PC. The list goes on. Mobs are irrational, and mobs of gamers are no different.

And so we come to a moment of deja vu, in which we see gamers once again labeled with that most perennial of put-downs: Entitled. Anyone who disagrees with the review consensus of DMC, the Devil May Cry reboot from Ninja Theory and Capcom, is just whining for no good reason apparently.

I wasn’t aware that there were verdicts when it came to accounting for taste, but I’m likely just behind the times. As a critic of scores, I’m downright hopeless when it comes to verdicts.

From here on out, Hillier’s post wanders through a thicket of fallacies.

“What I do not understand is the blithering insanity of Devil May Cry fans in the face of a reboot which does the franchise no harm and by all accounts, quite a lot of good,” she writes, apparently unaware that to many fans of the franchise the reboot has done it harm and is not by all accounts “a lot of good.”

Simply saying so doesn’t make it true. There is no objective barometer of truth when it comes to things like video games.

“The existence of DmC: Devil May Cry doesn’t stop the earlier games existing,” Hillier continues. “It doesn’t betray or compromise that existing (incoherent) vision you love so much. If Microsoft threw up in a puddle and sold it under the name “Halo 5″ it wouldn’t stop Halo and its sequels being what they are.”

I was never a huge Devil May Cry fan, so this new reboot hasn’t really ruffled my feathers despite its obvious shortcomings.

But I can imagine a series of games that I do love very much—the Souls games by From Software, for instance—and I can certainly imagine how I would feel if it Dark Souls 2 changed in ways that hurt the series: betrayed and upset.

This is partly because yes, a new installment in a video game or film franchise really does impact how we feel about the former titles.

This is true in film as well.

For instance, I have never been able to enjoy Star Wars as much as I used to not just because of George Lucas‘s shameless edits of the old films, but because of how bad the prequel films were. The awfulness of the second trilogy hurt my overall appreciation of the Star Wars universe.

If Microsoft “threw up in a puddle” and sold it as Halo 5 then yes, that would indelibly harm the Halo brand, and cast a long, bleak shadow back on the earlier games.

This is partly because of association and partly because canon entries in a series really do impact earlier installments. A story is not just beginning, middle, and end. It’s our appreciation of all these components together that counts.

In Jurassic Park 2 (the book) a main character that died in the first book turned out to be only “mostly dead” in the second. That hurt the original a great deal.

The last two Song of Ice and Fire books by George R. R. Martin have been a huge let down for many fans of the series, and this has cast a pall over the earlier books, regardless of how much better they were.

And yes, of course some fans will go too far in their tactics. You know what they say about bad apples. Petitioning the White House is silly, for instance, but only a tiny handful of Devil May Cry fans have actually done that.

In the internet age, we’re privy to all the most ludicrous actions of the vocal minority in every realm of life, but that doesn’t mean that anyone upset with this game is just an “entitled” crybaby giving gamers a bad name.

Just because someone doesn’t agree with VG24/7′s “verdict” doesn’t mean…well it doesn’t mean anything actually (and no, a subset of reviews is not scientific proof of quality anymore than you can gauge a game’s value after it’s been bombed by Metacritic users. These are signposts that can help you in your journey, but not proof of anything at all.)

“And yet despite the complete absence of logic behind this ill-will,” Hillier continues, “it runs so strongly that some of you have gone so far as to send death threats to Ninja Theory staff, to accuse VG247 and its peers of corruption, a charge which stinks of conspiracy-theory paranoia, and to write thousands of words of rabid vitriol against Dante’s hair colour rather than react like a normal human being to a game that has absolutely no impact on your life and happiness in any meaningful way.”

She follows this up with a remarkable saving throw against irony by telling gamers to “grow the #*&$ up” proving once and for all that things that have “absolutely no impact on your life and happiness in any meaningful way” can inspire even the best of us to bouts of rhetorical excess.

Here’s my two cents: I’m about fifty-fifty on DmC so far. There’s good, bad, and ugly in this game, and I can both enjoy it for what it is and lament it for what it isn’t.

But it’s good to criticize and to complain when it comes to video games, television, film, and any other thing which we consume for personal enjoyment. That’s how you get your point out there. It’s not good to do it by issuing death threats, of course, or by attacking the messenger—a much more common fallacy gamers tend to resort to. And of course some people will complain about everything and rarely offer up solutions. Misery loves company, or something like that.

My advice? Make your arguments solid. Make them more solid than your opponents’ arguments. Your arguments should be rocks to their scissors. Utilize data whenever possible, and avoid logical fallacies at all costs.

But don’t ever think that you can’t voice your opinion just because of some artificial “verdict.” Just try to be less of a jerk than the new Dante when you do it.

I’ll probably be far more mild in my critique of DmC than hardcore fans, but that’s because my opinion is going to be inherently different from yours—my taste and my experience and what I want in a game are all unique to me as a gamer and as a human being. Indeed, I imagine many reviewers really did legitimately enjoy DmC.

There is no objective standard here, and there never will be. We are designed to disagree—and that’s a good thing.

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I think the main concern for many fans in Ninja Theory’s DmC is that the release of this new game puts forth a dilemma. If it sells well, Capcom will assume this is what fans want and continue to churn out more DmC by Ninja Theory, something they consider unacceptable. But at the same time if this game flops, a very real possibility exists that Capcom will abandon the franchise in its entirety, meaning fans will never the the DMC 5 they are waiting for. Food for thought.

Absolutely agree. I’ve the same feeling when the new Ace Combat come out. I’ve feel betrayed when they decided to put down the very unique Strangereal world and go for CoD style story “real world”. I fear it will sells well and further incarnation of Ace Combat would be Call of Duty: Sky Combat. Turns out, it did not and I’m really glad about it :)

Wow, you’re way ahead of me, Erik. I was just about to make the point that this is seen in other mediums like movies (Star Wars) and books (A Song of Ice and Fire), but you beat me to the punch on both. It also happens in TV, as the last two seasons of Lost (especially the last five minutes of the finale) were basically an unmitigated disaster. I’d go ahead and add Final Fantasy to that group. The series has been in decline ever since the release of X over a decade ago, and yet I still see people telling fans of the classics (basically IV through X, but excluding V–though not everyone agrees on exactly which games are classics and which aren’t) that they’re entitled for actually expecting a new Final Fantasy game to feature top-notch storytelling and not just great graphics and endless hunt side quests to go along with a decent story that is nowhere near the series’ best.

There’s a reason why fans of great things insist that terrible sequels (or prequels) “never happened.” The existence of the terrible sequel somewhat tarnishes the great memories of the original. The Star Wars prequels never happened, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (and I’d throw in Temple of Doom as well) never happened, Major League: Back to the Minors never happened, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III never happened, the final two seasons of Lost never happened and Final Fantasy X-2 never happened (unfortunately, there’s just enough good stuff in A Feast for Crows that I can’t pretend it didn’t happen). At least, that’s what I tell myself. But of course, they *did* happen, and that’s the problem.

And the thing is, this “entitled” nonsense isn’t just restricted to video games. I’ve seen otherwise intelligent people actually defend the Star Wars prequels* (as good movies, not just that they aren’t as bad as they’re made out to be) and trash those who disagree. I’ve seen people defend Lost’s ending and tell anyone who disagrees that they just didn’t understand it. Just last week, Jason Schreier wrote about the decline of Final Fantasy, and there were a ton of people coming to the defense of the series’ disappointing recent games and blasting those who were disappointed. And let’s not forget that Neil Gaiman famously said, “George R.R. Martin is not your bitch,” which is just about a perfect encapsulation of the “entitled” argument. I didn’t realize that giving someone fame and fortune for doing something they ostensibly love is the same thing as “making him your bitch.” It is such a stupid argument, and it is so insulting to the fans. It’s disgraceful.

And that’s what bothers me so much about Hillier’s diatribe. Instead of just accepting that people disagree with the critics and moving on (this happens all the time–”Drive” is sporting a 93% rating at Rotten Tomatoes, but it got a C- on Cinemascore–and it doesn’t mean either the critics or the fans are necessarily wrong, though I generally side with the fans in most cases because I think critics have a view of the subject matter that is somewhat detached from the average person because they just see so many movies or shows or games and lose a little bit of their grip on what an average person thinks), she has to go out of her way to attack dissenters.

And I absolutely love that she trashes people who complain about things that have “absolutely no impact on your life and happiness in any meaningful way” and tell them to “grow the #*&$ up.” Now, I had never heard of Ms. Hillier before this (truth be told, I don’t read that much of the gaming press–I hadn’t heard of her Web site either), but it appears that she is a full-time video game writer. In other words, she has dedicated her career to things that have (in her own words) “absolutely no impact on your life and happiness in any meaningful way.” Irony, thy name is Brenna Hillier. I’m not sure if she’s actively trying to be a hypocrite, but she sure has done a great job of it.

I’d agree that some of the criticism is out of line (obviously, death threats are always wrong, and petitioning the White House does seem like an overreaction), but that unfortunately comes with the territory. As George Costanza’s psychiatrist once told him, “If you’re going to be in a creative field, you’re going to have to learn how to deal with criticism.” This is true both for the people who create fiction and those who write about it. Unfortunately, it seems like creative people and the writers who cover them also have the thinnest skins. I’m not sure anyone likes negative criticism, but we have to deal with it, especially if we choose to put our product out to the masses and especially if our product is something that is judged subjectively. Biting the hand that feeds is not a good strategy.

*One important note: I’m not saying anyone who likes any of the things I just cited as terrible are wrong. Everyone has different opinions, and that’s fine. My problem is that people are attacked for finding something disappointing (or in some cases, for *not* finding something disappointing), especially when they have valid reasons to do so. I have a hard time believing anyone likes Rocky V, but I’m sure there are people who do. I can’t understand why anyone would, but I wouldn’t insult anyone who does.

As you note in your article, I don’t agree when some gamers complain in really offensive ways that are not constructive. This is not entitlement. They’re just being jerks.

Death threats and aggressive, offensive language will be taken personally by anyone that worked hard on a project (as pouring countless late nights and time away from family & friends is common place in the industry). There are a lot of people that make games because they love them and think of them as a true art form. These are the people that will be reading these comments. And I think that’s only hurting our industry. Attacking the artists trying to do what they can within time, budget & artistic constraints is not going to make games better.

I think as a consumer base we’ve grown tired of the large conglomerates acquiring our favorite companies only to tarnish beloved franchises with the taint of greed and hopeless misunderstanding of artistic vision. This combined with the internet subculture of enjoying making someone else’s life miserable through anonymity makes for a pretty angry & disturbing mob.

Sometimes I wonder if the founders of Bioware left because of the pressures they felt from both the executives and the fans that were pushing on both sides of their artistic vision. Top that off with the fact that you’re not really living your life and boom! It’s no longer fun anymore and you’re out.

I’m afraid if fans keep acting this way, this will just be another reason why great writers, artists, and visionaries will either avoid or quit the gaming industry.

Having read this article and the blog you linked to by Brenna Hiller I gotta ask if her writing level peaked at junior high. Although, unfortunately, its pratically prolific compared to many of her peers in this industry.

This newest gamers/fanbase VS. developer/journalists is just another example of how badly games journalists need to grow up.

Their target audience isn’t always going to be 12 to 21 year olds where runaway hyperbole is considered a witty turn of phrase. The gaming industry is in deperate need of real journalism. A check and balance against the excesses and missteps of the industry as well as a check against the more fanatical excesses of the fan base by being calm and rational.

Instead we have people who are admitted fanboy’s/fangirl’s who are now inside the industry and more concerned about being best friends with the developers of the games they love. And it shows in the content and quality of the reports and blogs they produce.

The argument that “video games don’t matter” made by that other… person, do in deed, make the best of us squirm in our seats. It’s hard not to write a rebuttal 50 pages long to such insipid thought-vomit.

But to put it simply: Things matter. Video games do matter. Who are you to say video games do not matter? Are you God? A supreme being capable of deciding what things in the universe do matter? Things may or may not matter, but I for one believe there is a subtle distinction among people philosophically: There are people who have read Hamlet, and people who have not. Err, or rather, they are either alive, have committed suicide, or have not thought whether it is “to be” or not. In the second case, who cares about their opinion? So that leaves us to two kinds of relevant people, people who know they want to live, and people who don’t know yet.

If you want to live, chances are, saying a phrase like, “It doesn’t matter” comes hard to you. Because ALL THINGS MATTER WHEN YOU ARE ALIVE. If you’re some nihilistic goth who’s ready to cut his or her arteries and bleed out in a bathtub, great, but for the rest of us, things matter. Saying that they don’t, as some kind of argument, and saying that thinking they matter is “childish” — is just… well ignorant is the wrong word, but it’s disgustingly trite, uninspired and underdeveloped.

Any “journalist” who utters the word “entitled” in serious reference to any audience is just trying to pander to nerd-rage-views. That’s it. It has absolutely no meaning or value and contributes nothing. Video games matter. Especially if you’re a consumer supporting an industry that makes these “works of art”.

If you’re alive today, then you should care if Capcom shits all over one of its most beloved series. You should care if a game isn’t made to your tastes. And you should explain why you don’t like it. So at the very least, the developers know what kinds of people won’t buy their game when they make it.

The problem is most gamers feel as if their opinions is the only right one and it should go there way and if not it’s shit. Look at all the heat “fans” of the game gave just for the hair. Really? Hair? That’s all it takes? The game is out and the general consensus is, it’s not as good as the godly 3, but solid game. That doesn’t keep people from saying “I will not buy this shitty game” without playing 1 second of it. It’s based on some sort of experience, you can say it doesn’t appeal but to say it sucks is another jump. Not saying that in order to have an opinion you HAVE to do it but in general you kinda do. That’s how we spread word about good food, movies, games, music.